Hierroglyphic-Frank Plant
A trip through the works and musings of Barcelona based sculptor Frank Plant

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Sunday on the Terrace

"Sunday on the Terrace", 350cm x 120cm, Steel, 2007

Recently I went to a brunch on the terrace of a friend of mine in the neighborhood of Barceloneta. These brunches are normally replete with a staggering mix of people from all over and are hosted by connector extraordinaire Sandy Brunner, an architect native of Zurich. I have been going to these brunches for a few years now and in fact one of these brunches a few years back also provided the source material for a drawing in steel of a group of sardines which Sandy now owns. Anyway at a certain point I began to note the variety of postures people were assuming while laying in two plastic reclining lawn chairs that were on the terrace. People were assuming the most relaxed and languid positions that I began to think that I might be able to do a piece involving the material. Out comes the camera.

This is the first image that really made me think about the potential of using this material in a piece. It's a photo of a friend, Fery Rohrer, and it served as a point of departure for the creation of "Sunday on the Terrace". My desire with the piece was really to capture a completely normal moment and all the poetry inherent in it. Each individual posture is an incredibly complex equation which I believe can communicate alot about a persons current relationship to their surroundings. By doing four figures I have also created an imaginary dialogue which can actually be manipulated by changing the positions of the figures.

This piece is also exhibited on Sandy Brunner's terrace. It seems that her terrace is a spot that I find inspiring.

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Frank Plant is a Barcelona based American sculptor. He studied sculpture at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After finishing his B.A. in fine arts in 1993 he moved to Amsterdam and during this period he began to develop his drawings in steel. These are simple and direct studies of the forms and compositions of everyday objects. Welded steel has always been the principal medium for Plant's work, whether in his two dimensional pieces such as his fingerprints series or his earlier three dimensional kinetic metal sculptures, that incorporate found objects. In 1999 Plant moved to Barcelona and began to diversify the materials he uses in his sculpture. Photography and painted wooden backgrounds, light boxes, motors, sensors, sound and music have all became integral parts of his sculptures. In investigating new ways of communicating with the viewer, interactivity played an increasingly central role in Plant's work. His work is in private and public collections throughout Europe and North America.
For more info please visit/contact:
www.frankplant.net
info@frankplant.net